RESEARCH

Energy Research:

  • “Net Zero Energy Installation Support and Central Energy System Master Planning”
Design and execution of Net Zero Energy goals is a complex undertaking, which requires an optimal mix of demand reduction, system integration on a community scale, use of renewable sources, and storage technologies.  DoD installation master planners lack the ability to analyze and optimize performance of such complex non-linear dynamically coupled systems needed to achieve NZE goals in a timely and cost-effective manner.

The primary research objective of this R & D project was to test and demonstrate the development of holistic Net Zero Energy installation master plans using the Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL) developed Net Zero Planner at two large, complex military installations, with the possibility to proliferate the approach to multiple DoD installations.  The Planner provides installation master planners the capability to develop optimized master plans focused on meeting energy goals (including NZE) through cost savings, energy use reduction, utilization of renewable energy sources, reduction of GHG emissions, and analysis of cost and risk scenarios based on available budgets.

The project master planning process began with establishing site-specific data; development and optimization of Energy Efficiency Measures (EEM) for new and existing buildings; conducting and optimization of a cluster analysis to identify groups of buildings suitable for district integration, including heating, cooling, combined heat and power (CHP), renewables, and storage; and finally generate NZE installation master plans and supporting documentation.

The master planning process was undertaken separately by both a team of industry leading subject matter experts (SME) and government researchers, who performed site and facility assessments at both installations to collect site energy-related data.  The SME prepared installation energy master plan was utilized to calibrate and validate the Planner tool developed master plan.  During this process, the teams shared site-related data and preliminary results as a means of optimizing both generated installation energy master plans to position each installation on the path of achieving NZE.

In conjunction with the demonstration of the Planner, a second objective was to provide central energy plant (CEP) master planning support to one of the installations.  The installation required an immediate evaluation of their existing central energy plant (including both heating and cooling systems and associated central energy distribution infrastructure), and development of alternatives to upgrade or replace the existing systems to optimize energy generation and distribution, which will support NZE goals.

  • “High Performance Building Envelope, Energy Planning, and Cogeneration for Net Zero Energy Installations”
The DoD is dedicated to the reduction of energy use and GHG emissions by improving energy performance of their facilities across all services.  In 2011, the DoD selected eight installations to reach Net Zero Energy by 2020 and is rigorously striving to meet Federal regulations and mandates to improve performance.  In order to meet Federal and DoD energy mandates and develop Net Zero installations, the U.S. Army has researched the use and optimization of central energy plants utilizing cogeneration, and high performance buildings as solutions to meet these challenges.

This project was developed as a holistic approach to increased energy efficiency of an installation through improvements to both central energy systems and individual buildings.  Buildings and building clusters energy efficiency can be greatly increased by improving power generation and distribution efficiency, in concert with improved envelopes.  Combined heat and power (CHP) central energy plants powered by renewable energy sources is a cost effective way to achieve efficiency goals on the community/building cluster level.  In support of this approach, the Army has developed a computational framework, the NZE Planner, to allow DoD facilities to analyze clusters of buildings supplied by central energy plants at the installation level, with the ultimate goal of achieving Net Zero Energy installations.

Meeting energy goals requires not only a seamless concept for energy efficient construction and major retrofits of buildings and building clusters, but also well trained personnel to execute the design, construction and operation of these buildings and systems.  It is important to introduce high performance principles and concepts to designers, energy master planners and other members of the user group to ensure these systems perform as designed.  The second portion of this R & D project was to develop training modules for architects, engineers and master planners to describe technologies, design principles and requirements, and construction practices to achieve high performance building envelopes.

  • “Comparison and Analysis of Energy Performance of Temporary Army Shelters”
The Army utilizes temporary structures, commonly known as “B-Huts” or “SEA-Huts,” for a variety of purposes at contingency bases, which are easily constructed by personnel in the field.  The primary use is to house military personnel, but these structures can also be used as dining, administration, and maintenance facilities.

The standard Army design for a shelter is a basic wood framed structure with exterior and interior plywood walls, and a metal or plywood covered truss roof, placed on floating wood piers.  These shelters can also be assembled of other means and materials, such as concrete masonry units (CMU) walls, covered by a metal truss roof.  They are typically un-insulated, and an Army-issued Environmental Control Unit (ECU) or a split AC unit provides heating and cooling.  A shelter has an expected lifetime of three to four years, and is demolished at the end of their service life.

As these structures are quickly assembled in the field, they are very energy-inefficient, lacking appropriate airtightness to provide adequate occupant comfort and air quality, which greatly increases the heating and cooling requirements. Significant opportunities exist to improve the overall energy efficiency, constructability, longevity, and sustainability of these temporary shelters.

The objective of this research endeavor was to determine how an Army Temporary Shelter’s energy performance could be improved through executing a high performing envelope, and compare its performance to an identical but unimproved shelter.  The approach consisted of designing and assembling two temporary shelters (one control, or unimproved, and one enhanced), and subsequently monitor their respective energy usage.  The collected energy data and enhancement costs (labor and material) were analyzed in order to understand energy usage, and develop a return-on-investment (ROI) scenario.  The collected information allowed for an understanding of how these high performance enhancements improved the energy performance in relation to cost.  This information was then utilized to inform and improve the baseline Army Temporary Shelter configuration.

  • “Exhaust Hood and Makeup Air Unit Demonstration”
Exhaust Hoods and Makeup Air Units are often poorly designed and controlled within dining facilities.  It is common for these units to operate at constant flow rates for long periods of time, sometimes up to 24 hours per day.  This is a large energy waste (up to 80% of energy used can be saved), which may result in uncomfortable working conditions.

Demand Controlled Ventilation (DCV) has been adopted by the HVAC industry to reduce overall ventilation rates and energy use in high occupancy spaces through modulating exhaust hood and makeup air ventilation rates.  The technology varies ventilation rates based on cooking activities as measured by temperature and opacity sensors. The sensors are connected to a controller and variable frequency drives on both the exhaust hood and makeup air unit fan motors.  The controller modulates the fan speeds of the exhaust hood and makeup air unit fans based on input from the sensors.  Kitchen DCV technology has been implemented in a few DoD dining facilities (DFAC) over the years where a high performance building was a design objective, but is not a standard option in military design guides.

The objective of this project was to demonstrate the optimization of exhaust hoods and related make up air units through the deployment of DCV technology primarily within DoD DFAC’s. The demonstration goals of energy use reduction, reduced GHG emissions, and no increase in maintenance requirements were reached to varying degrees with this technology.  Energy savings were validated through monitoring energy use pre- and post-DCV technology installation.  Qualitative benefits, such as noise reduction, were validated through surveys of personnel working with the retrofitted systems.  Insights from the demonstration were used to alter various criteria and guidelines such as UFC 4-722-1 “Dining Facilities” and Prospect Course 391 “HVAC Design”.

  • “Systems Approach to Improved Facility Energy Performance”
This project was originally conceived as a result of the Army’s efforts to address chronic and persistent mold and mildew problems in Army facilities.  Mold and mildew infestations of Army facilities pose indoor air quality concerns and risk the health, wellness and quality of life of soldiers.  Remediating mold and mildew in Army facilities costs millions of dollars annually.

Concerns about mold and mildew in Army facilities are not a recent occurrence.  For many years, the Army has attempted to address these problems through routine maintenance, minor remediation efforts and major renovation of Army facilities.  In many cases, building interiors were completely demolished and replaced and new HVAC systems installed.  Unfortunately, in spite of the millions of dollars invested, the Army’s efforts to get a handle on this issue persistently failed to achieve long-term fixes.  Both newly constructed and recently renovated facilities in hot and humid locations commonly experienced mold and mildew problems within a few years of completion.

This project was initiated to demonstrate integration of three innovative technologies that would address DoD’s need to simultaneously address mold and mildew problems, maintain indoor air quality, increase occupant comfort and reduce energy consumption in military facilities.  Building envelope improvements will reduce infiltration of moist outdoor air in and through wall structures where it can contribute to ideal conditions for development of mold and mildew, cause damage to building structural elements and architectural finishes, and negatively affect comfort within facilities.  Reduced infiltration of unconditioned outdoor air also lowers the building’s overall heating and cooling loads, eliminates drafts and improves occupant comfort.

A tightened building envelope increases the importance of assuring adequate ventilation.  Many military facilities employ variable air volume (VAV) systems, which are notorious for their inability to deliver adequate ventilation air at part load conditions.  This problem is addressed by integration of a dedicated outdoor air system (DOAS), which provides the required volume of conditioned ventilation air under all load conditions.   In addition, a DOAS system is better able to dehumidify air entering a building because it modulates its dehumidification capacity based on the actual moisture content of the ventilation air stream.

Combining an improved, tightened building envelope with a DOAS system enables excellent control of the humidity conditions inside a building.  With humidity conditions under control, a radiant heating and cooling system becomes a feasible choice for managing the sensible comfort conditions inside of the building.  Radiant heating and cooling systems heat and cool spaces by circulating hot (or chilled) water through radiant ceiling panels so that heat transfer between objects and people in the space and the radiant heating/cooling system occurs primarily via radiant heat transfer (rather than by convective heat transfer).  Since water is a much more efficient medium of heat transfer than air, it is more energy efficient to circulate heating and cooling energy through the building in the form of water than in the form of air.  With good control of humidity conditions in the building, there should be little risk of moisture condensing on the cold surfaces of radiant panels when operating in the cooling mode.

USACE Research Areas:

  • “United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Post-Conflict Natural Resource Initiative”
This research endeavor was developed and funded by Center for the Advancement of Sustainable Initiatives (CASI) in support of the “Post-Conflict Natural Resource Initiative” under the United Nation’s Environment Programme (UNEP).  The overall goal of the UNEP effort was to develop an understanding of the role natural resource management plays in worldwide conflicts.  CASI’s research objective was to develop metrics and guiding principles to support UNEP in the establishment of policies and initiatives to mitigate, rectify, and prevent local conflicts due to natural resources.

CASI supported UNEP’s effort through the preliminary case study research and development of metrics and databases.  Hundreds of case studies were analyzed to develop initial conflict mapping and metrics, societal influences, and building strategies to inform post-conflict natural resource initiatives and later investigations.  All information was captured and organized within a CASI developed database along with other base research.  As the project developed and became more refined, the data and supporting resources were transferred to international subject matter experts and organizations for further elaboration and study.

  • “Research in the Lab: U.S. DoD Integrated Training Area Management Program (ITAM)”
The Army is responsible for over 15.2 million acres of land on 186 major installations worldwide and must comply with many environmental regulations.  This is a unique challenge for the Army, using land for combat simulation while properly protecting and maintaining land and natural resources.  The Integrated Training Area Management Program (ITAM) vision is to maximize the availability and capability of Army lands to support and enhance the training and testing missions, and to maintain environmental stewardship through natural and cultural resources management founded on sound ecological principles.

ITAM was developed by the Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL) in the early 1980’s with the overall goal to support its vision and provide the Army with a dynamic training land management process to maintain the most realistic training environment possible while filling its responsibilities as steward of the public trust.  This program was quickly transitioned to DoD-wide use within several years after proving its value in effectively managing installation resources and further developed to include several other functionalities.

The objective of this research endeavor was to document the historic development and implementation of the program to celebrate the three decades that ITAM has been in service of the DoD.  Historic documents and interviews from thirty years of research and development were reviewed to capture and record the program’s development.   A comprehensive database was created to support storage of the research and archive historical documents.  In addition an internal website was built to showcase the project, along with a published report documenting the program and promotional articles.    

  • “Location and Land Use of U.S. Military Installations: An Historical Context”
The United States Military has been a functioning entity over the entire course of this country’s history and has faced ever changing military threats across its lifespan.  The U.S. Army has been in existence for over 235 years and in its long history has experienced many changes in the lands and facilities required to address evolving military threats and missions.  As these threats and missions have changed, so too have the number, type, size and purposes of military bases.

The current “landscape” of installations reflects a response to these differing threats across our entire nation’s history.  This research and subsequent articles investigated the historical development of U.S. military installations, the changing need for the land resources and facilities necessary for that mission, and the mixed views concerning the nature of the mission of national defense. The focus here centers on when, where, and why military installations were created and placed on the landscape.  This research is intended to be utilized by planners concerning the context of historic planning conditions that surround military installations and inform future development, rehabilitation and planning efforts.

The resulting research was captured in several reports and articles, which resulted in another research study, where a special report under CASI titled “Geospatial Considerations in the Location of U.S. Military Installations” was written.  For this report, co-authored with two other CERL researchers, further research was contributed concerning the disturbance conditions surrounding military installations, which was utilized in several presentations on the development of remedy metrics.    

Technology Research & Development:

"An ASNR for Air Force Installation Sustainability: CASI support to AFCEE’s Environmental Information Clearinghouse"
Communication and the sharing of authoritative knowledge is complex, and increasingly so as technology steadily improves, and itself, becomes more complex.  To better foster the communication between experts and personnel scattered across the world, more efficient tools and methods are needed to provide a connection between these two stakeholders.  The Air Force has been developing solutions to address this issue and create efficiencies through this communication process.  Welcome, ANSR, a web-enabled portal initiated by the Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment’s (AFCEE’s) to foster this idea of streamlined dissemination of authoritative knowledge from their experts to those in the field and at installations around the world.

The Accessible kNowledge for Sustainable Resources Portal (ANSR) was initiated by AFCEE’s need to provide the Air Force with a web-based, common point of access, data tool to be the authoritative resource to house and disseminate authoritative information for AF sustainability, environmental, and restoration information to support the AF mission from its inception and well into the foreseeable future.  The information that is housed in ANSR consists of resources that govern operations of AF installations, cleanup, construction, sustainability, and many other areas.

ANSR attempts to organize content of AFCEE program area owners in a portal that draws on Department of Defense (DoD) and Air Force content management practices currently in place.   ANSR provides users with current and authoritative knowledge from AFCEE experts.  The authoritative knowledge provided within ANSR is vetted amongst program area owners: AFCEE Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), Program Managers (PMs), and Subject Matter Specialists (SMSs) who are knowledgeable and provide authoritative answers in their respective fields of expertise.

ERDC CASI provided support to AFCEE by in the development of ANSR enterprise web portal. The effort established an information-sharing platform to support the AFCEE Technical Support and Environmental Restoration Divisions in their role to provide technical assistance and advice to Air Force installations, major commands, and other clients, and to manage its restoration, compliance, and sustainability programs. CASI assisted AFCEE in the assessment of needs and alternatives, information metadata frameworks, and content management efforts to develop, establish, and implement ANSR.    

"Immersive Technologies: Utilization of Virtual Worlds for Collaborative Endeavors"
In this period of stretched budgets and greater oversight placed on travel and expenditures, it is becoming absolutely imperative that we seek alternatives to on-location meetings and training.  The issue that arises is to how to effectively replicate the benefits and synergies that exist in face-to-face, physical collaborative formats and develop them into new more effective substitutes online or through other technological means.

Our workforce, collaborators, and customers are global. We must interact and communicate to share ideas. The way to get the fullest “bandwidth” of communication is face-to-face, since we communicate not only with our words, but also through non-verbal means. We travel so that we can gather to communicate, such as commuting to a workplace, or traveling to meetings and conferences. This travel is expensive in many ways, such as time, modes of travel, traffic, and accommodations, but also carbon emissions.

With the advent of Immersive Virtual Worlds, the manner in which business is conducted and the way people connect with others is dynamically changing.  Virtual worlds are ever evolving alongside new technologies and software that with each rendition comes a set of new tools and functionality.  But it is necessary to analyze how to utilize this new way of communicating alongside other more traditional methods, along with methods to improve communication across all modes of communication.  This endeavor reviewed scholarly research and novel technologies that apply to these aspects of communication to help us better quantify how we can best leverage technology to maximize our ability to communicate while minimizing our cost of travel.    

Publications:

Balbach, Harold E., William D. Goran, and Anthony R. Latino.
“The Military Landscape: Why US Military Installations Are Located Where They Are”
ERDC/CERL TR-11-7. Champaign, IL: Engineer Research and Development Center-Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (ERDC-CERL), 2011. www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA559000.
“From protection to projection: An overview of location considerations for U.S. military bases.”
In Military Geosciences in the Twenty-First Century, edited by Russell S. Harmon Baker, S.E., and McDonald, E.V. Volume XXII of The Geological Society of America, Reviews in Engineering Geology, 27–38. Boulder, Colorado: The Geological Society of America, 2014. doi:10.1130/2014.4122(04). www.geosociety.org.    

Chris C. Rewerts and Anthony R. Latino. In Edit, April 2012.

An ASNR for Air Force Installation Sustainability: CASI support to AFCEE’s Environmental Information Clearinghouse
Center for the Advancement of Sustainability Innovations Technical Report

Personal Research:    

  • Palladian Architecture and Treatises
  • Palladian Architecture during the Renaissance - Padua, Veneto, Italy    

TRAVEL

Around The Wall International Design Workshop, 2012-14

“Around the Wall” is an international workshop of drawing and design, concerning the study of the city as a complex organism and plot of cultures, traditions and daily actions which needs to face the constant and fast evolution of the society and urban and extra-urban territory...

INTBAU Sicily & Madonie Summer Programme, 2011

INTBAU Sicily & Madonie Summer Programme, an International Summer School in drawing and design focused on traditional architecture and urban design, which was jointly developed by INTBAU Italy and USA and took place in Sicily from 4-11 September 2011.
Sicily has one of the most splendid architectural and urban histories anywhere, spanning from Greek settlements through today’s modern cities. The workshop took place within the confines of Palermo and the historic Parco della Madonie, a very scenic mountainous zone just east of the city that includes 15 historic towns and villages. The state and local governments are seeking model and proposal for the development of a sustainable economy around local products, local identity, agroturismo and historic architecture. The Summer Programme supported this endeavor through studying the site and local inhabitants, which resulted in the development of a pattern book documenting tangible and intangible local values and character to support proposals for regeneration of the historic centers. The workshop also developed proposals for an “albergo diffuso” (town hotel) model, as well as communication and marketing strategies to brand natural and built landscapes for sustainable tourism.

Architecture & History Research Abroad:

2012
  • Italy
2011
  • Italy and Greece
2010
  • England, France, and Italy
2009
  • Italy and Greece
  • Savannah, Georgia
2008
  • Italy
          Independent Research - "Palladio in Rome and his Renaissance Contemporaries."
2007
  • Italy
       University of Illinois - Dept. of Educational Policy Studies and Graduate School of Architecture
          EPS 595: Independent Study - "The Education and Training of Palladio during the Renaissance."
2006
  • Italy
       University of Illinois - Dept. of History
         History 199: Independent Study
         History 396: Patronage and Exchange: Courts, Culture, and World Trade

CONFERENCES & WORKSHOPS

2013
  • Traditional Building Conference, 19 September - Chicago, IL

2012
  • Traditional Building Conference, 07 November - Chicago, IL
  • AIA Illinois 2012 Annual Conference: "Beyond Building," 01-02 November - Champaign, IL
  • ICA & A Educational Seminar: "Designing the Orders," 11-12 August - Chicago, IL
  • Army Net-Zero Installations, 18-20 January - Chicago, IL
2011
  • AIA Illinois 2011 Annual Conference: "Collaboration, Innovation," 04-06 November - Naperville, IL
  • Palladio Conference, 10-12 June - South Bend, IN
  • RTTW, 08 March - San Antonio, TX
2010
  • AIA Illinois 2010 Annual Conference: Reinvention, 03-05 November - Champaign, IL
  • Traditional Building Exhibition and Conference, 20-23 October - Chicago, IL
2008
  • Traditional Building Exhibition and Conference, 20-23 October - Chicago, IL
Anthony R. Latino © 2010-2023